Beaumont couple sheds 500 pounds

Jared Ainswort, Beaumont Enterprise

By Jared Ainsworth

Updated 10:00 am, Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Using a healthy diet and exercise, Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis lost a total of around 500 pounds together. Featured on CNN, the couple said they were ready for a change in there life after the birth of their goddaughter.
Photo taken Monday, March 25, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Using a healthy diet and exercise, Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis...

Willie Gillis, Angela Gillis and Lisha Chambers just before running the 2013 Gusher 5k. Angela said she is training to run a marathon.
Photo taken March, 09, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Willie Gillis, Angela Gillis and Lisha Chambers just before running...

Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis talk about the diet that helped them lose around 500 pounds together. Their plan began with cutting out soft drinks and fast food.
Photo taken Monday, March 25, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis talk about the diet that helped...

Using a healthy diet and exercise, Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis lost a total of around 500 pounds together. Featured on CNN, the couple said they were ready for a change in there life after the birth of their goddaughter.
Photo taken Monday, March 25, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Using a healthy diet and exercise, Willie Gillis and Angela Gillis...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in October2009.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in January 2011.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in June 2011.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in September 2011.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in January 2012.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in April 2012.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in September 2012.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in November 2012.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in December 2012.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011. Willie has gone from 492 pounds to 192 while Angela went from 338 to 138. Here they are in March 2013.
Photo: Courtesy Of Angela Gillis

Willie and Angela Gillis, of Beaumont, have lost a combined 500...

Beaumont couple Willie and Angela Willis took photos of themselves to remember the excitement of being able to fly to Memphis this past February. In the past, Willie would not fly because he was worried he'd be turned away due to his size. And Angela was embarrassed during flights because she would use seat extenders to fit. The couple has lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011.
Photo: Courtesy Of WIllie Gillis

Beaumont couple Willie and Angela Willis took photos of themselves...

Beaumont couple Willie and Angela Willis took photos of themselves to remember the excitement of being able to fly to Memphis this past February. In the past, Willie would not fly because he was worried he'd be turned away due to his size. And Angela was embarrassed during flights because she would use seat extenders to fit. The couple has lost a combined 500 pounds since January 2011.
Photo: Courtesy Of WIllie Gillis

Since January 2011, Willie and Angela Gillis have shed a combined 500 pounds. Both hit their target weights in September.

Willie, who weighed 492 pounds in 2011, is now down to 192. Angela dropped from 338 pounds to 138.

The Beaumont couple has used diet and exercise.

"We started, and every day I pictured what I would look like in the end," Angela said.

Toward the end of 2010, Angela said short walks down a sidewalk took away their breath. The couple's goddaughter, Emmy, was born the same year.

The 32-year-old Willie thought, "I wasn't going to be alive when she grew up."

During those days, Angela, 31, was more concerned about Willie's health than her own. She feared she'd wake one day with Willie gone, their happy marriage abruptly gone with him.

Soon after, the couple decided it was time to lose weight.

They got gym memberships and everything about their food changed.

Willie lost 11 pounds the first week by simply cutting out fast food and sugar - including those two-liter bottles of soda. He'd lost 100 pounds within four months. Angela's process was initially a bit slower and she lost 25 pounds the first three months.

They replaced fast food with baked or grilled chicken, turkey and fish. Their only eat-out spot was Subway. Pizza, which is one of their favorites, became a homemade dish with crust made from cauliflower, Flatout Bread or even bagels.

From the beginning of the journey, the Gillises used the iPhone app, Lose It!, to track calories at every meal. Willie even posted his weight and meals on Facebook and Twitter.

"I wanted to make myself accountable," he said.

The accountability was already there. By losing weight together, Angela said they never wanted to let each other down.

"It helps that we were pushing each other," said Angela, who has created a blog, WeBeatFat.com, which led to an article recently being written about the couple on CNN.com.

Along with the food swaps, Angela immediately started running on treadmills in 2011. Willie started with 30-minute walks that quickly became 45-minute walks.

With her body steadily improving, Angela ran the Gusher Half-Marathon in 2012 and again earlier this month. She ran a half marathon in Dallas on Saturday.

"I'm booked up until May," Angela said of races. "I never, ever thought I would be that person."

She teaches spin classes at Exygon, with Willie participating on the front row. They work out together six days a week.

The couple splurges on one cheat meal a week. Their favorite spot is Pei Wei Asian Diner.

"We buy the employees Christmas presents," Angela said of the restaurant's staff. "They know exactly what we want when we walk in."

For Angela, it's usually a plate of vegetables. For Willie, it's fish and brown rice.

They claim they have not struggled with a desire to settle back into their old eating habits. And working out is a routine. It's who they've become. They now focus on weight training and gaining muscle to fill out their seemingly new frames.

On Monday, as Willie spoke of where the couple started, spoke of once being a bit slow at work and being mocked by kids because of his size, Angela reached over to hug him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so proud of you," she said.

When Angela and Willie gaze at one another, they do double-takes. Daily glances at the mirror make them question if these are really their bodies.

"Even now I'm looking at him and I'm like, 'Wow,'" Angela said. "People are always like, 'You're so tiny.' But in my head I'm like, 'No, I'm not.' I'm always going to be that person because that's who I always was."